The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project has received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study the role of the public library in the digital age. Over a three year period, they will conduct national surveys, surveys of library patrons, and focus groups to assess library use and preferences in […]
Everyone’s heard of thinking outside the box, right? You know-the ability to break out of unconventional thinking and apply innovative ideas to problem solving. Well, now we invite you to explore ways of thinking outside the survey and using innovative methods to learn about the people who use your library. Please join us at CALCON11 […]
Letters have been sent to public school libraries throughout the state announcing the opening of the 2011-12 Colorado School Library Survey. It can be accessed at http://www.lrs.org/slsurvey. We have made substantial revisions to the survey based on respondents’ comments to better reflect the current state of school libraries, and we look forward to getting the […]
We have an article in the September 2011 issue of Computer in Libraries, “U.S. Public Libraries and Web Technologies: What’s Happening Now?”. It highlights the findings from a study about public libraries’ use of Web 2.0 technologies that we released last spring (available as a Closer Look report). Key findings from the study included that: […]
In response to some questions we’ve received about our School Library Journal article and our future plans for school library research: The results reported in this article represent the first part of a larger study we are conducting to look at the relationship between school librarian staffing and achievement scores. Our next step is to […]
A new study by LRS staff past and present finds that in states that gained school librarians between 2004 and 2008, NAEP 4th grade reading scores increased at a greater rate than in states that lost librarians during this time period. These differences were particularly pronounced for poor, minority, and ELL students. See the complete […]
Last November, we asked you in a 60-second survey to share your opinions about privatization and public libraries. We just published the results of this study as a feature article in American Libraries: “Who’s the Boss? Does Private Management Have a Place in Public Libraries?”. Access the article here. The study’s results were also summarized […]
LRS’s newest Fast Facts, “Web 2.0 and Colorado Public Libraries: 2010 Update,” highlights the Colorado findings from our 2010 nationwide study of U.S. public libraries and their use of web technologies. Colorado’s results generally mirrored those of libraries nationwide, although it is ahead of its peers in areas such as web presence among libraries that […]
Libraries’ online presence is a constant topic of conversation, with anecdotal insights dominating the discussion. A broader picture of what libraries across the country – and throughout Colorado – are doing with web technologies and web 2.0 tools is a little harder to find. That’s where LRS stepped in with a paint brush. In spring […]
LRS is excited to announce the release of our most recent Closer Look report, “The Impact of the Recession on Public Library Use in Colorado.” We examined Colorado public library use prior to and after the recession’s onset. Our findings indicated that from 2006 to 2007 (prior to the recession), visits per capita, circulation per […]
